In his first annual message to Congress, Mr. Lincoln deplores the physical necessity that compelled the retirement of Scott in the following language: 

“Since your last adjournment Lieutenant-General Scott has retired from the head of the army.  During his long life the nation has not been unmindful of his merits; yet, in calling to mind how faithfully and ably and brilliantly he has served his country, from a time far back in our history, when few now living had been born, and thenceforward continually, I can not but think we are still his debtors.  I submit, therefore, for your consideration what further mark of consideration is due to him and to ourselves as a grateful people.”

In virtue of this act and in pursuance of the foregoing request on November 1, 1861, the lieutenant general having been retired from active service, General Orders No. 94 announced that “the President is pleased to direct that Major-General George B. McClellan assume command of the Army of the United States.”  On assuming the important command to which he had been designated, General McClellan on the same day issued his General Orders No. 19, in which he gracefully and feelingly alludes to the retiring commander: 

“The army will unite with me in the feeling of regret that the weight of many years and the effect of increasing infirmities, contracted and intensified in his country’s service, should just now remove from our head the great soldier of our nation—­the hero who in his youth raised high the reputation of his country on the fields of Canada, which he hallowed with his blood; who in more mature years proved to the world that American skill and valor could repeat, if not eclipse, the exploits of Cortez in the land of the Montezumas; whose life has been devoted to the service of his country; whose whole efforts have been directed to uphold our honor at the smallest sacrifice of life; a warrior who scorned the selfish glories of the battlefield when his great abilities as a statesman could be employed more profitably to his country; a citizen who in his declining years has given to the world the most shining instances of loyalty in disregarding all ties of birth and clinging to the cause of truth and honor—­such has been the career, such the character, of WINFIELD SCOTT, whom it has long been the delight of the nation to honor, both as a man and a soldier.  While we regret his loss, there is one thing we can not regret—­the bright example he has left for our emulation.  Let us all hope and pray that his declining years may be passed in peace and happiness, and that they may be cheered by the success of the country and the cause he has fought for and loved so well.  Beyond all that, let us do nothing that can cause him to blush for us; let no defeat of the army he has so long commanded embitter his last years, but let our victories illuminate the close of a life so grand.”  General Scott lived to see the fulfillment of this devout prayer in a restoration of the union of the States.